sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 26,692
- Like
- 116,407
SU News
It's Time for Syracuse to Choose: Football School or Irrelevance (TNIAAM; Cassillo)
As we all know, Syracuse basketball stands to potentially be crippled by theNCAA's sanctions (as they currently stand). Losing 12 scholarships over a four-year stretch is no laughing matter, and the effects of those (again, if that number isn't reduced in appeals) lost scholarships will be felt far past those four seasons. Orange basketball isn't dead in the water, by any means, but it's unlikely we see the level of success fans have grown accustomed to over the last five or six years.
Maybe we're not a basketball school anymore.
... Or at least, perhaps that's the message both fans and Syracuse athletics should take to heart for the time being. Having trouble succeeding at the highest level in basketball isn't the same as a death penalty for the program by any means. But given the uphill battle we'll face there, maybe it's time -- at least for right now -- to focus on getting football out of the extended funk it's been in for 15 years and into a new period of success.
***
While the ACC invited us for our basketball prowess (AND TV MARKET), it's still a football conference and football, as we all know, drives the freight in terms of college athletics. Just look at our own Syracuse University's spending. Despite a stress on hoops over football, SU still spent $23.6 million on the latter in 2013-14 -- fifth-most (!!!) in the conference. Now, we can wring our hands about that figure and the lack of results that came with it all we want, but the fact of the matter is that SU is going to have to spend similarly (and intelligently) for several years more to really "get" this whole power conference thing. The program's not going to die if we don't do so, mind you. But... there's really no good that can come from being weak/irrelevant in the ACC's two main sports. Our pals at Wake Forest -- also a basketball-focused private school to a degree -- have been down-and-out in both sports for several seasons in a row now, and many (justly or unjustly) look/have looked at them as an afterthought in the league. The way to avoid being an afterthought? Spend money.
...
College News
Syracuse vs. Georgetown: What the Headlines Don't Tell Us (nationalreview.com; Grant)
Basketball is in the headlines, but football is the great corrupter in college sports.
Headlines, even in sports, can be deceptive. But it’s hard getting around the contrast in last weekend’s banners regarding two universities that are involved in one of the greatest (though temporarily suspended) rivalries in college basketball. On one side is Syracuse. Having already removed themselves from postseason play due to self-reported academic infractions, the Orange were hit by the NCAA with more severe penalties: five years’ probation, twelve forfeited scholarships over the next four years, and the vacating of 108 wins accumulated with the efforts of academically ineligible players. On the other, Georgetown. As the team prepared for a season-ending win over Seton Hall, Hoyas coach John Thompson III announced that senior Tyler Adams, sidelined since December of his freshman year with a heart ailment, would start and stay in the game for one play. The move was not spontaneous: “JTIII” first requested permission from the NCAA in late 2013 for Adams, the recipient of a medical-hardship waiver that allowed him to stay at Georgetown on scholarship, to suit up once more. (Adams would score.)
...
It's Time for Syracuse to Choose: Football School or Irrelevance (TNIAAM; Cassillo)
As we all know, Syracuse basketball stands to potentially be crippled by theNCAA's sanctions (as they currently stand). Losing 12 scholarships over a four-year stretch is no laughing matter, and the effects of those (again, if that number isn't reduced in appeals) lost scholarships will be felt far past those four seasons. Orange basketball isn't dead in the water, by any means, but it's unlikely we see the level of success fans have grown accustomed to over the last five or six years.
Maybe we're not a basketball school anymore.
... Or at least, perhaps that's the message both fans and Syracuse athletics should take to heart for the time being. Having trouble succeeding at the highest level in basketball isn't the same as a death penalty for the program by any means. But given the uphill battle we'll face there, maybe it's time -- at least for right now -- to focus on getting football out of the extended funk it's been in for 15 years and into a new period of success.
***
While the ACC invited us for our basketball prowess (AND TV MARKET), it's still a football conference and football, as we all know, drives the freight in terms of college athletics. Just look at our own Syracuse University's spending. Despite a stress on hoops over football, SU still spent $23.6 million on the latter in 2013-14 -- fifth-most (!!!) in the conference. Now, we can wring our hands about that figure and the lack of results that came with it all we want, but the fact of the matter is that SU is going to have to spend similarly (and intelligently) for several years more to really "get" this whole power conference thing. The program's not going to die if we don't do so, mind you. But... there's really no good that can come from being weak/irrelevant in the ACC's two main sports. Our pals at Wake Forest -- also a basketball-focused private school to a degree -- have been down-and-out in both sports for several seasons in a row now, and many (justly or unjustly) look/have looked at them as an afterthought in the league. The way to avoid being an afterthought? Spend money.
...
College News
Syracuse vs. Georgetown: What the Headlines Don't Tell Us (nationalreview.com; Grant)
Basketball is in the headlines, but football is the great corrupter in college sports.
Headlines, even in sports, can be deceptive. But it’s hard getting around the contrast in last weekend’s banners regarding two universities that are involved in one of the greatest (though temporarily suspended) rivalries in college basketball. On one side is Syracuse. Having already removed themselves from postseason play due to self-reported academic infractions, the Orange were hit by the NCAA with more severe penalties: five years’ probation, twelve forfeited scholarships over the next four years, and the vacating of 108 wins accumulated with the efforts of academically ineligible players. On the other, Georgetown. As the team prepared for a season-ending win over Seton Hall, Hoyas coach John Thompson III announced that senior Tyler Adams, sidelined since December of his freshman year with a heart ailment, would start and stay in the game for one play. The move was not spontaneous: “JTIII” first requested permission from the NCAA in late 2013 for Adams, the recipient of a medical-hardship waiver that allowed him to stay at Georgetown on scholarship, to suit up once more. (Adams would score.)
...
